Sebastian Vettel stormed to win at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Bahrain to retain the top spot exclusively in the drivers standings for the 2017 season.
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In Bahrain, Ferrari’s aggressive strategy and tactics made the champions look rattled and ponderous as Vettel followed up his win in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to take a clear lead in the championship.
Mercedes stopped both Bottas and Hamilton together.
Hamilton’s hopes were also hit when the British driver was given a time penalty early into the race for driving too slowly in the pit lane and holding up Ricciardo.
Hamilton was catching the German on every lap but ran out of time and finished nearly seven seconds behind.
On Sunday, he won from third place on the grid behind the Mercedes’ of Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton – thanks to passing Hamilton at the start and an early pit stop.
Neither had a trouble-free evening, however, with Vettel suffering what he called a “complete shutdown” on his auto with half an hour to go. “And then in the second and third stint still the pace wasn’t there and the vehicle didn’t feel as it did yesterday, so we’ll have to find out what the problem was”.
McLaren’s Belgian rookie Stoffel Vandoorne, who scored a point in Bahrain a year ago as a stand-in, had a troubled day and stopped on track with engine problems 21 minutes from the end of the first session. “You lose a senior member of a team and that has a bearing, it means the team is slightly on the back foot”.
It was the third grand slam of Hamilton’s career insofar as the Stevenage-born racer landing pole position, the win, registering the fastest lap and leading every lap.
“It was just over-steering all through the race, that’s why the pace was slow”, Bottas lamented.
“Everyone is targeting to be on the Pirelli minimum and that is already too high”.
Further down the field it was a day of frustration.
Ricciardo’s teammate Max Verstappen did not finish after suffering rear brake failure on the 12th lap.
“But at a certain stage you have to decide – are you losing the race or are you making a call that is not a nice one?”
“But that’s how it is and although I didn’t like it for my personal race, I am a team player and I understand”, he added. “I did it for the team even though it didn’t feel good for me personally”.
It allows him to move clear into the lead at the top of the overall standings on 68 points, seven ahead of Mercedes’ Hamilton, victor a week ago in China, after the pair went into the weekend level at the top.
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Mexican Sergio Perez finished seventh for Force India, his 13th successive points finish, with Frenchman Romain Grosjean eighth for Haas. Racing resumes on April 30 with the Russian Grand Prix.
